Pan-African legal education institute will be established by Ghanaian and Nigerian law societies
The Pan-African Institute for Continuing Legal Education, or PAICLE, will be founded by the Ghana Law Society (GLS) and the Nigerian Law Society (NLS).
In a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on October 5, 2026, the two West African law organisations committed to working together to create and implement both in-person and virtual continuing legal education programs.
The agreement specifies that the Pan-African Institute for Continuing Legal Education will have its main office in Accra, Ghana.
Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, SCN, the executive director of the Nigerian Law Society (NLS), signed on the organization’s behalf via Rev. Dr. Apaerala Perey.
Dafeamekpor is the majority chief whip and a member of parliament representing South Dayi.
The Ghana Law Society will send a seven-person delegation to the Nigerian Law Society’s annual general meeting on November 4 and 5, 2026, as part of their relationship.
Recall that the Office of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, wrote to recognise Ambassadors Dahiru Aliyu and Jaja as the organization’s President and Executive Director, respectively, despite the ongoing dispute over the authentic version of the Nigerian Law Society, NLS.
Commissioner of Police Lateef Adio Ahmed, Principal Staff Officer to the IGP, signed the letter dated March 10, 2026, with reference number CB:5180/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL.43/41.
In contrast to the attorneys of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, who are recognised as legal practitioners by the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962, the Nigerian Law Society is an association of Nigerian non-litigation attorneys.
The distinction is that, in accordance with the Legal Practitioners Act of 1962, attorneys who have passed the bar test and are members of the NBA are qualified as litigation attorneys who may be summoned to the bar and have the ability to appear in all Nigerian courts.
As an explanation of the organization, Jaja stated, “The members of the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) are lawyers who have completed the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and some of them have not received additional qualification by attendance at the Nigerian Law School and called to Bar in accordance with the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962.”
He claims that the attorneys who are members of the NLS are LLB degree holders, including those who have been called to the Bar, who have deliberately chosen to focus on areas of law that do not involve litigation in court.
Legislative drafting, legal research and lecturing, arbitration, mediation, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), practice, corporate secretarial services, and legislation modification and reforms are only a few of the non-litigation legal fields in which NLS members are involved.